This invention relates generally to apparatus for effecting the removal of fibrous material from pallets. More specifically, this invention concerns apparatus for removing a thin layer of fibers from a pallet surface which is not otherwise removed by primary fiber removal apparatus.
When handling large volumes of fiber material during harvesting and initial processing, it is highly advantageous to modularize the fiber material to facilitate storage and transportation thereof. The assignee of the present invention has developed such a system for modularizing fiber material such as seed cotton to expedite handling and processing thereof. One portion of the system is a mechanized seed cotton handling apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,749,003 issued to Lambert H. Wilkes et al. on Jan. 31, 1973. The seed cotton handling apparatus receives fiber material from mechanical harvesters and compacts the fiber material onto a suitable pallet. The pallet along with the compacted seed cotton may then be transported by conventional trucks to a geographically distant processing plant such as a cotton gin, for example.
Another portion of the system developed by the assignee hereof concerns the continuous feeding of the modularized fiber material to the processing plant. For the above purpose, an apparatus has been developed which receives and unloads modules comprising a pallet with compacted fiber material. A pending commonly assigned U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 439,846 filed Feb. 6, 1974, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,897,018, of Lambert H. Wilkes et al. discloses, in detail, an embodiment of such a mechanized continuous feeding apparatus.
While the preferred embodiment of the mechanized unloading apparatus disclosed in the pending patent application is efficient and constitutes a substantial advance over the then existing state of the art, greater flexibility is desirable in the construction of the unloading apparatus to increase the variety of pallets which may be handled and to efficiently remove all the fiber material carried by the pallet.
In this connection, it would be desireable to have vertical spacing between the pallet unlloading apparatus and the pallet supporting apparatus to accommodate a wide variety of pallet cross-sectional configurations without requiring frequent adjustments of the spacing. More specifically, it is desireable to space the unloading apparatus such that pallets with or without pull bars can be handled without mechanical interference.
It would, moreover, be advantageous to provide means for efficient removal of fibrous material from the pallet notwithstanding the vertical spacing between pallet supporting apparatus and pallet unloading apparatus. Another highly desireable feature for augmenting flexibility of the mechanized unloading apparatus resides being able to efficiently clean pallets having flat, rough or corrugated surfaces that may be interchangeably used in conjunction with the unloading apparatus.
Recognizing the above features, a need exists for a mechanized pallet unloading apparatus which provides the desireable flexibility.